11 April 2008

Project Spectrum helps people with Autism

New 3D design software called Sketchup has been released by Google and is helping people with Autism to express themselves using 3D drawing tools. Project Spectrum is focusing on bringing this freely downloadable software to the Autistic community. I think that this is another good example of how people with high-functioning Autism and Asperger's Disorder can utilise their capacity for visual representation in a creative and therapeutic way.

Second Life allows the same type of interaction with 3D objects but goes one step further in allowing high levels of social (virtual) interactivity in the same space without the associated disabling (real world) anxiety this necessarily involves for people on the Autistic Spectrum. Combining the consistency and fixed nature of virtual 3D structures that people with ASD crave alongside the changing social relations and interactivity of Second Life, we may be able to provide stimulating social learning spaces for people with Autism. Please see this video for more information on Project Spectrum.

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This is the personal blog of Milton Broome, the digital avatar of University of Derby Senior Lecturer in Psychology Dr Simon Bignell. The avatar is a proxy for Psychology teaching and research in 3D multi-user virtual environments. I am a Developmental Psychologist by training with a strong interest in Cyberpsychology and Cognitive Psychology.

I teach a range of Psychology modules both to campus-based and distance learners. I lead the final-year course 'Autism, Asperger's and ADHD'; the final year course 'Educational Psychology', and teach on a range of modules across Developmental and Cognitive Psychology.

I led the JISC and HEA-funded projectthat evaluated teaching and research in the 3D virtual world Second Life. I would be pleased to talk with you if you share these interests. Please feel free to comment, subscribe, forward or quote extracts from this blog. I also welcome relevant guest articles.

Contact: Dr Simon Bignell (SL Avatar: Milton Broome) Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Centre for Psychological Research, University of Derby, UK. Email: s.bignell@derby.ac.ukThis is a personal blog and all views expressed here are the opinions of the individual authors at the time of publication and not those of any academic institution.

Virtual Research

SL-Labs is the Virtual Psychology research space in the digital environment 'Second Life' run by the Psychology Department at University of Derby, UK. You can visit this in the virtual world Second Life by clicking on the above image.

PREVIEW-Psych project

The PREVIEW-Psych problem-based learning virtual worlds project. You can visit this in the virtual world Second Life by clicking on the above image.